


Uncle Buck: My Thoughts

by KaibaSlaveGirl34



Series: Prompt Stories [54]
Category: Original Work, Uncle Buck (1989)
Genre: Community: comment_fic, Essays, Gen, POV Alternating, POV First Person, POV Original Character, POV Third Person, Reviews, Slice of Life, Wordcount: 100-2.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-14
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-07-12 07:51:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15990869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaibaSlaveGirl34/pseuds/KaibaSlaveGirl34
Summary: A viewer’s thoughts on the 1989 filmUncle Buck.In memory of the late, great John Candy (October 31, 1950 — March 4, 1994).





	Uncle Buck: My Thoughts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Harry2](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Harry2/gifts).



> Disclaimer: I own the fanfics and essays that I cook up from time to time.

**Uncle Buck: My Thoughts**

Buck Russell is not the most reliable and trustworthy person around, and when Cindy Russell (his sister in law) and Bob Russell (his brother) turn to him as a last resort to look after their children — 7-year-old Miles (who turns 8 a bit later), 6-year-old Maizy and 16-year-old Tia — Buck agrees to fill in, while Cindy and Bob go to Indianapolis to visit Cindy’s ill father. While over at the house, Buck does his usual routines — including going to smoky bowling alleys and smoking cigars. However, the longer he is around with Miles and Maizy, and the more he witnesses Tia slowly get seduced by her boyfriend Bug, Buck learns about responsibility and how there is more to life than just being an eligible bachelor and having fun.

* * *

_Bob Russell (Garret M. Brown), his wife Cindy (Elaine Bromka), and their three kids — Tia (Jean Louisa Kelly), Miles (Macaulay Culkin) and Maizy (Gaby Hoffman) — have recently moved from Indianapolis to the Chicago suburbs because of Bob’s having gotten a promotion at work; Tia resents her parents for the move. Late one night, Cindy and Bob receive a phone call from Cindy’s aunt in Indianapolis, informing them that Cindy’s father has suffered a heart attack. The couple makes plans to leave Chicago immediately to be with him. After hearing the news, Tia accuses Cindy of abandoning her own father._

_Bob suggests asking his brother Buck (John Candy) to come watch the children. However, Cindy objects to this idea; in contrast to upper middle class suburbanites Bob and and Cindy, Buck is unemployed, lives in an apartment in Chicago and bets on rigged horse races to earn his living. Besides that, Buck’s girlfriend Chanice Kablowski (Amy Madigan) owns a car repair business. When it turns out that no one else is available to help them, Bob and Cindy realize they have no other option. So, they turn to Buck, who agrees to help._

_Buck hits it off with Miles and Maizy, but Tia is suspicious, and the two engage in a battle of wills. When Buck meets Tia’s boyfriend, Bug (Jay Underwood), he warns his niece that Bug is only interested in her for sex. Buck repeatedly thwarts her plans. Over the next several days, Buck deals with a number of situations, including taking the kids to his favorite bowling alley and making over-sized pancakes for Miles’ birthday before dealing with the inebriated Pooter the Clown (Mike Starr) that Cindy had hired for Miles’ birthday. Finally, he speaks with the school principal about Maizy._

_When Buck threatens Bug with a hatchet, Tia makes Chanice think Buck is cheating on her with their neighbor Marcie Dahlgren-Frost (Laurie Metcalf). When Tia sneaks away to a party instead of looking after Miles and Maizy, a concerned Buck decides to go looking for her instead of going to a horse race. Thinking that Bug is taking advantage of Tia in a bedroom at the party, he forces the door open, only to find Bug with another girl (as Tia had left using her now better judgement). Buck ties up Bug and throws him into the trunk of his car. When he finds Tia wandering the streets, she tells him that he’d been right about Bug all along._

_When she asks if he will tell her parents about everything that had been going on, he tells her he won’t; Tia thanks him for that. Buck then says, “I’ve been riding your butt all week about how you live your life — I realize maybe somebody should’ve been riding mine” before adding that he could use her advice on what to do about Chanice, as he’d been stringing Chanice along for about eight years, and that he couldn’t even figure out what was wrong with him. He then speaks of how he’d done a great job with earning Tia’s trust and admiration, but he’s confused when he can’t do the same with Chanice. When he adds that there is one one family charity case that still loves her, Tia apologizes, and Buck assures her she has nothing to apologize for; he is just glad to get to know her again. When she asks what he did to Bug, Buck smiles in an enigmatic way; Tia notices and can’t help laughing. Buck lets Bug out of the trunk to apologize to Tia; this time, when Buck mentions having a power drill in the trunk, Tia decides to go with the idea, and enthusiastically agrees with Buck. When Bug is finally released, he takes back the apology and flees; Buck then begins striking him with golf balls._

_When Cindy and Bob return, Tia and Cindy resolve their issues. Buck returns to Chicago, along with Chanice; Tia gives him a wave goodbye, and he returns it with a smile._

* * *

From my perspective, the film Uncle Buck is an awesome one to watch, as well as be inspired by. Plus, if I had to pick a favorite scene from the movie, I would pick the one where Buck makes this really awesome speech to the assistant principal, Anita Hogarth (Suzanne Shepherd):

 **Buck:** I don’t think I want to know a 6-year-old who isn’t a dreamer or a sillyheart. And I sure don’t want to know one who takes their student career seriously. I don’t have a college degree. I don’t even have a **job**. But I know a good **kid** when I see one, because they’re **all** good kids — until dried-out, brain-dead skags like you drag them down and **convince** them they’re no good. You so much as scowl at my niece, or any other kid in this school, and I hear about it, and I’m coming looking for you!

Buck had a point there. Kids aren’t born bad; instead, they’re usually good kids. It’s people like the assistant principal in the movie that drag them down and convince them that they are no good.

**Author's Note:**

> Nice feedback is very much appreciated, of course.. :)


End file.
